Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Rimfire Scope for Squirrels

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Thinking about another rimfire scope for shooting treed squirrels. I want to keep the weight down. I have a Leupold Freedom 3x9x40 rimfire so I am familiar with them. I am wondering about the same in 2x7x33. Does one trump the other or anything negative with the smaller scope? Also, are there others I should look at? Seems several have recently been discontinued. I might consider a straight 4X as well. Thanks

The weaver 2-7 Rimfire scope is a good one. Made in Japan. Nice and trim, believe Natchez has them on sale.

I have a Leupold 3x9x33 EFR I might want to sell.

Other than shooting paper where I would turn the scope up, I don't have much need for a variable powered Squirrel Hunting scope. My favorite is the old Burris Mini/Compact 6X with parallax. I still use them a lot. The other scope that works great for me is the Leupold FXII 6X36 with the parallax adjusted to 40yds by Leupold and with fine duplex crosshairs.
I have the Leupold Freedom scope in 3-9X33 EFR, some Browning 5-15X40 AO (Bushnell 4200's with 3200 glass coating) and a few Bushnell 3.5-10X36 AO scopes. Nice scopes eveyone of them, but the above 2 are still what I use and they do not weigh much at all.

I've killed a truckload of squirrels with an old Weaver D4, a 7/8" tube with plastic lenses, it doesn't take much.

Nowadays, I use much better glass, but the old scope, on a Marlin 60, never gave me any trouble or a reason to blame it rather than my shooting. A good 4 power will work fine, if you have an old K-4, it would be a fine choice, too.

Some nice offerings here,, I have a couple bushnell AR223 scopes on some shooters an really like them,,very clear and side turrent AO,, the 4200's and 3200's are very nice too,, I have an old 4x weaver that has a german post,that i love for squirrels,, put the head on the post and send it,,

I primarily hunt fox squirrels with rifles chambered in 17HM2, so I like a little more magnification to take better advantage of the longer point blank range that the 17HM2 has over the 22 LR. I have Weaver V16s on my Anschutz 1502 and Marlin 917M2S and a Leupold 3-9x33 EFR on my Remington 504. The only .22 rifle that I've used to hunt squirrels within recent memory is a 10/22 with a Weaver RV9.

I'm running an old Vari-X II 2x7 that I picked because it just looked like the perfect fit for my rifle.
Actually, it's a little farther back than I prefer, but still useable. And I didn't want to repostion the rear ring forward an inch to the next notch.
A 4x28 might be a better fit. I usually set it at around 4 or 5. Here's a fuzzy picture.

I like that it has a larger ocular lens than the 28mm rimfire scopes, but still the small 28mm objective. And the fine crosshairs don't hide much on small targets. But before I got the old Leupy, I had a twenty dollar pawn shop Simmons 22mag 3-9x32 on it for years that worked great.

I’ve go the same setup however I have a DNZ reaper one piece aluminum scope mount on it...

I'll have to check that out. I've looked for one of the old short steel 3/8 base a couple of times but didn't find one.

I have a couple of these (see link) and really like them. I don't twist dials or turn adjustable parallax's much except paper shooting so a fixed Leupold 6X like I posted above works for me. But.....................
Scope

All good recommendations. I am pondering the fixed six power Leupold. Don't have to have anything so that makes it harder to decide, lol

Killed most of mine using:
Bushnell 4x Sportview - long ago on a 10/22
Then later a M8 6x36 on it and later a 77/22
Since then, a few 6x36s and 33mm

and more often using standard VX-1 and Freedom 2-7x33, reticles bolder than some rimfire models......parallax never caused me to miss

What ever you do, make sure the lower end can do at least 5-8x...

Plenty of newbs buy higher power scopes and turn them too high and miss the critters, 12-14x is great if you are trying to clip a squirrel poking it’s head out of a hole... BUT

For everyday shooting, you’ll miss more than you hit because at 10x you can’t hold steady unless you are on a rock solid rest... so stick with 5-8x 90% of the time and you are good to go.

Don't shoot a squirrel poking his head out of a hole. He'll fall back in the hole and you lose him. I think 6X is just about perfect for squawk hunting.

Done that before........... Shot one high in a tree over a nest that fell straight down into the nest.

Scopes-Ive tried 4x, 2-7, 3-9, 4-12 and 4.5-14, all worked okay, but where l hunt brush is thick and getting a shot over 50 yards is uncommon, so the last few years ive grown to like the 2-7x33mm Leupolds. Light weight, big field of view, easy eye relief, not bulky, fits well on most rimfire rifles. If l hunted areas where a lot of long shots were common, I'd probably go to a 4-12.

My favorite squirrel rifle has a 2-7X32 Nikon Pro-Staff shotgun scope {75 yd. parallax} on board. I've killed a truckload of squirrels with that setup with no complaints.

Might change my mind after I try it, but going to try a Leupold 4x33 on a light weight 10/22. I can always go back to the variable if this don't pan out. I hunt with a dog an most trees aren't that tall here. I appreciate reading what everyone has used successfully.

2-7 Kahles rimfire if you can find one.

DF